As advertising veteran Helen Achan breathed her last on Sunday, her former colleagues who worked in Lintas where she was the Head of Media Planning, fondly remember her as a “very warm person”.

At Lintas, Helen was instrumental in guiding and training several media planners. Her career in the advertising domain spanned from 1965-90. In almost five decades of her association with the industry, she had contributed to key transformations in the sector. She was one of the few women in advertising in the 1950s and was part of the creative teams working with Alyque Padamsee. Among Helen's contemporaries were other advertising legends like Ketaki Gupte and Roda Mehta.

Anchan was associated with the industry till December of 2003 and was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Emvies in 2004.

Industry heads and former colleagues shared their memories of Helen.

Ashish Bhasin, Founder, The Bhasin Consulting Group 

"Helen was an institution and has nurtured several generations of media leaders. Besides being a great media personality she was also a wonderful human being. Truly like a mother. Her Christmas cakes brought warmth to several families. Helen will always have special place in the hearts of Lintasites of that generation and for me personally, it feels like the end of an era and a personal loss."

Meenakshi Menon, Founder of NGO Vanashakti and Spatial Access (now a Deloitte business) 

“Helen was a legend. She was among the first people who developed scientific procedures when it came to media planning. She was responsible for the first media planning software in the 1970s. She was a warm person, a surrogate mother to all people in the media and she looked after her team members fiercely. She was disciplinarian when it came to work, an amazing woman and someone I looked up to,” said Menon who worked under her guidance at Lintas.

Arun Anant, Advisor, Hyperstate Technologies 

“Helen was the big boss of media at Lintas when I joined her team as an intern. She made sure that I learnt the fundamentals of media planning. While the media world has changed, those foundations still hold true and held me in good stead especially in the years I worked across various media houses. While Helen was always professional as a boss, she was a warm and friendly person. I will miss the Christmas cake that she would bake and invite several of us every year.”

Rama Bijapurkar, Indian Author and Marketing & Management Consultant 

"Lintas was my first job and I was a 20-year-old management trainee, clueless about almost everything and new to Bombay. Helen who was a senior media planning manager adopted me. There began a friendship of over 40 years and I called her my godmother and she became a valued part of my extended family. Personally, she was so warm and kind-hearted, offered amazing hospitality in her home that for many decades always overflowed with friends - young and old."

"She commanded respect and she commanded love. Professionally, she was the hardest-working, most dedicated person I ever knew. Right until her seventies, she worked at least 12 hours a day and she was particular that excellence had to be in everything that she did. That, by the way, also included the saris she wore. Crisp cottons, lovely silks, always well turned out! Clients like Hindustan Lever always wanted to know what she thought before they signed off on anything. I mourn today my godmother, an exceptional woman professional who was a role model for many of us and an outstanding human being. And an institution in her field."

Praveen Tripathi, CEO, Magic9 Media & Analytics 

"I first met Helen in 1978, exactly 45 years ago during a summer camp recruitment in IIM Ahmedabad. In 1979, I was hired by Lintas out of the same programme. She became my first boss. Helen knew the value of talent, she had humility, she was curious to learn. We were literally like her children even if we were working late, she cared about dinners and everything. When you start as a kid, every little detail matters, it has an impression on you throughout your career, it makes a huge difference. She is responsible for me entering and sticking to this profession. Some of the qualities that I really admire about her are - extreme commitment towards work, nurturing of talent, polishing those talents. I am utterly grateful to her."

Muktesh Pant, Former CEO of Yum Restaurants International 

"I worked closely with Helen a long time ago in the late 70s and the early 80s when I had just started my career at HUL. She was the Head of Media at that time. The landscape of media and marketing was very different at that time than it is today. People like her had an understanding of consumer branding and they helped youngsters like me. She was an extraordinary person, and has made a mark on me.

The qualities that I admire about her were - she was always on time for every meeting, always wearing a saree, elegant and she always had a smile on her face. She was consistent with her work. This was a time when pioneers of marketing were shaping up. She was one of the pioneers who shaped the Indian media landscape along with many legendary creatives and media people. She passes away into the next world. I hope her soul finds peace. It is a very sad day."

Pranesh Mishra, Chairman & MD, Brandscapes Worldwide 

I have known Helen for over 40 years. Deeply saddened with the realisation that my caring friend and ex-colleague, Helen, is no more. She was one of the most caring and gentle people I have known in my life. She was the embodiment of unconditional love.

I always looked up to Helen as an exceptional media strategist, a leading name in the media strategy business since the time I started my career in Lintas. In fact, I learnt the ABC of media planning from her during the early stages of my career. Not just professionally, she has been my guide through my personal life. She has been my go-to person, whenever I was in need.

In the 1980s, my family and I were down with chickenpox, and were wondering how to fend for ourselves. Remember these were the days before Swiggy or Zomato - or mobile phones. The bell rang suddenly and there was food sent by Helen to help us tide over. She did this spontaneously. That empathy and caring was Helen’s hallmark. I dearly miss her.